"Setting up Cowpens" Topic

" Cowpens is one of the more interesting actions fought during the American Revolution. General Daniel Morgan with a mismatched command won one of the most decisive battles of the war. He understood how his opponent Banastre Tarleton fought and designed his battle plan for him. He understood the various strengths and weakness of each of his troop types (rifles, Continental line regulars and militia) and set them to maximize their strengths not their weaknesses…"

From here
link

Amicalement
Armand

It is always interesting to see how people interpret Cowpens and Mark does good work. Wargaming Cowpens would be tricky though. How many players are going to make the same mistakes that Tarleton did?

The armies were prertty evenly matched, though it wouldn't be Cannae.

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Cowpens is interesting, being one of the AWI battles with the most cav, and is almost always one of the first two or three games I try with a new set of AWI rules.

A couple of things I noticed WRT the British OB:
1) It lists "17th LD troop (4)" but doesn't show their quality/morale grade. Presumably regulars?
2) Next it lists "British Legion Troop (4) (regulars)", and at the bottom it lists "British Legion Dragoons (20) (militia)". Since I believe the former is just a small detachment from the latter, it seems odd they are of different quality/morale grade. Is that a mistake, or was it intentional (e.g. based on their numbers)?

I always find the rating of the British Legion Dragoons in rules/scenarios interesting. I've seen them rated "regular", which always struck me as a bit generous. I've also seen them rated somewhere between "regular" and "militia", if it's available in a particular set of rules. I don't know that I've seen them rated "militia" before, but if there is no alternative between "regular" and "militia"…

Thanks!.

Amicalement
Armand

I've run Cowpens 9 times in 15mm, using a nicely built terrain board (thanks, Denny!). The British have won 4 times, the American 5. Over the years the players have included experienced AWI players on both sides. This is not a walkover for either side, it does come down to generalship – and some good luck. We use my Thrust of Bayonet rules – hopefully out soon from MSD Games.

Swarmaster1, I would be most interested if you could post a picture or two of your terrain boards. They sound most interesting!

Codiver, I hope this answers your questions.

"A couple of things I noticed WRT the British OB:
1) It lists "17th LD troop (4)" but doesn't show their quality/morale grade. Presumably regulars?"

The 17th Light Dragons should have been rated as elite. Although a very small troop they performed well during the battle considering the numbers of horse brought against them.

2) Next it lists "British Legion Troop (4) (regulars)", and at the bottom it lists "British Legion Dragoons (20) (militia)". Since I believe the former is just a small detachment from the latter, it seems odd they are of different quality/morale grade. Is that a mistake, or was it intentional (e.g. based on their numbers)?

The British Legion had been vastly increased numbers wise after the Battle of Camden by recruiting Continentals prisoners. Join the legion or off to the prison hulks! Check out how many men Tarleton had at each battle and you see where I am coming from. This effected the performance of the Legion at Cowpens, and not for the better. there are reports of these ex prisoners returning to the Continental ranks after Cowpens. Also note that the small troop on the left flank fought welluntill overwhelmed. The main body of Legion dragons refused to charged. Because of this I rated for this game the main body as militia horse and the small troop as regular. for more about thus may I suggest the essay in the legion Cavalry and Continental prisoners in Jim Piecuch's book Cavalry in the American Revolution.

I always find the rating of the British Legion Dragoons in rules/scenarios interesting. I've seen them rated "regular", which always struck me as a bit generous. I've also seen them rated somewhere between "regular" and "militia", if it's available in a particular set of rules. I don't know that I've seen them rated "militia" before, but if there is no alternative between "regular" and "militia"…

In the rules I used cavalry are rated as Elite, Regular and Militia. I assigned these ratings based on the historical performance of the units during that battle.

To me, the key to this fight is the command structure. Tarleton is by himself. Morgan has good subordinate commanders.

Mark

Lastly I did fight out the battle with a very historical result. This was due to the historical parameters I placed on each side. The British had to attack quickly with little time to waste. And when things went bad Tarleton could not be everywhere to rally his troops.

link

The problem with Tango's smash and grab approach to posting here is not only does the blogger not get credit (something I have asked for and been denied repeatedly) but in grabbing posts often he misses things. I like to post how I and going to set up my battle and then how the fight went.